The present disclosure relates generally to a system for, and a method of, deterring theft of items that have bypassed a department-specific, point-of-sale (POS) station in a department of a venue, especially a retail venue.
Retail theft by customers and/or employees is a major problem facing retailers. To deter theft, retailers have, among other things, put up anti-shoplifting signs, installed security mirrors, and operated surveillance cameras, in their venues, and have also hired security personnel. Retailers, especially big-box, large-scale stores, have also subdivided their venues into individual departments, such as electronics, clothing, housewares, toys, etc., and grouped related items for sale in each department. Each department has one or more department-specific, point-of-sale (POS) stations to which a customer, who wishes to purchase and remove items from a respective department with authorization, is intended to go to complete a retail transaction for the items from that respective department by paying for the items. Such departments are distributed throughout the venue, typically away from one or more main POS stations that are located adjacent a main exit/entrance of the venue.
Experience has shown, however, that some customers will shop and remove items from a particular department, and then such customers, rather than paying for the items at the department-specific POS station designated for that particular department, will bypass that department-specific POS station, and sometimes continue their shopping in other departments. Most of these customers will pay for the items at the front of the venue at one of the main POS stations adjacent the main exit/entrance of the venue. However, some customers, especially shoplifters, will also bypass the main POS stations. Retail personnel situated in the departments at the back of the venue assume that the items removed from their departments will be paid for at the main POS stations at the front of the venue. Retail personnel situated at the main POS stations at the front of the venue assume that the items being removed from the venue were already paid for at one of the department-specific POS stations at the back of the venue. The result is that some shoppers simply walk the items right out of the main exit/entrance without paying for them and without being challenged due to such incorrect assumptions.
Accordingly, there is a need to deter theft of items that have bypassed a department-specific, point-of-sale (POS) station in a department of a venue.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and locations of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The system and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.